The main concern of most entrepreneurs these days is to ensure they can keep their business afloat mid-pandemic. Some parts of the world are still on lockdown. Other economies are slowly trying to open up. If you managed to keep your business during the pandemic, then you are one of the lucky ones. Other businesses had no choice but to shut down their brand.
While the effects of the Covid-19 crisis are still in effect, you can consider turning the situation around. This can be a great time to scale your brand for as long as you got signs telling you your brand is ripe for scaling. It can be a bit tricky to use the pandemic as an opportunity to scale the business, but it is not impossible to make this work.
Here are three things you can keep in mind so you can start scaling during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Find More Ways to Finance Business Growth
Chances are, you already planned on scaling the brand before the pandemic. You got enough income to finance the growth on top of your emergency business funds. But with the pandemic, you need more than one financing solution to make sure you have enough funds to support the scale-up.
Don’t rely on a single source of finance. You will actually find it more feasible if you can assemble financing from a combination of financing solutions. Consider angel investors, bank debt, supplier financing, and even customer financing.
Aside from your savings, you can consider cross-leveraging money with small business loans. Contrary to popular belief, bank debt can help make your brand look more desirable to equity investors. They get to watch from the sidelines and see if how you perform when it comes to paying back your debts.
Don’t forget to find ways to increase your savings. For instance, businesses can leverage capital allowances when investing in properties as part of their business expansion. Professionals can help you maximize your capital allowance claims and get the most out of your new business venture.
Reimagine Your Business Model
The crisis made us rethink our priorities, our habits, the way we make decisions, and even how we solve issues. During these unprecedented times, the kind of business models that worked before may no longer be effective after the pandemic. It becomes a must to revisit our business objectives, check the current state of the business and direct your brand to a new business model that can help you navigate the new normal and successfully scale-up your brand.
Pivoting is not a new word in the business world. But it can be one of the best ways to ensure your business stays relevant. Many major brands managed to successfully pivot their business model during the pandemic, and we can always learn a thing or two from these success stories.
For one, staying on top of the latest trends in your industry always helps. This gives you an idea of what business practices currently work. You can leverage what your consumers need and what your competitors are currently up to.
There is also a need to ensure your pivot would yield profitable results. This means you must be able to encourage consumers to avail of your services to enhance business value. During these challenging times, you can take advantage of the fact that consumers are leaning toward more sustainable business offers.
Ensure Consumer Health and Safety
Consumers these days fear about their health safety. This is the very reason why they choose to do their shopping online. But even if this is the case, many are still opening their brick-and-mortar business.
Consumers especially the younger generation value real-life interactions. They want personalized customer service and wants businesses to offer great customer service even in the middle of the pandemic. Even a few months of staying indoors is enough to make consumers crave the kind of personal interaction one can get from buying from an authentic brick-and-mortar business.
To make sure you give your customers peace of mind, make sure to enforce health and safety measures recommended by the health experts. Before you resume brand operation, prepare the building to minimize the risk of spreading the virus. Think about how you can protect both of our customers and employees without putting your quality of service for granted.
Have a game plan in place on how you intend to regularly clean and disinfect the workplace. It also pays that you prepare your employees with the new normal. You want to make sure no sick staff at on the field and that those who are considered high risk get to stay indoors where it is much safer for them.
Revisit compensation, leave, and remote work policies. Consult with your lawyer on how you can better navigate the rehiring and on-boarding of old and new employees. The last thing you want is to get sued in the middle of the pandemic.
The road ahead can be unpredictable and nowhere near easy. But this does not necessarily mean the pandemic is not a good time to start scaling up your brand. Keep this list in mind before you begin scaling and you can survive the Covid-19 world.
